I agree, I'm paying a chunk. But you are paying almost $175. The cost for conversion to GFA (after 4 quotes) will be between $9900 and $14,000.

Divide that $75 a month savings into it and you have more years than I will be alive.

Meanwhile, the Chinese, the Europeans and others are constantly looking for better ways to generate heat with wind, solar and just plain electricity from the wall.

I have nothing to lose by staying radiant, and I believe that plenty of efficiency gains will follow my updating the existing system. Not to mention the fact that maintenance on a well-designed radiant and baseboard system is virtually $0 per year - my system is over 40 years old and functions flawlessly. I've had one wire break due to settling - and how many times in that period have my neighbors had to replace their furnaces? At least twice.

I'm going to keep my radiant heat.

I understand where you are coming from.... there are many homes here in FW that are still all electric utilizing ceiling heat. How do you currently cool your home? Have you looked into ductless split systems and staying all electric? That could possibly be a better payback.

I'm going to keep my radiant heat.

The losses in my installation are due to the entire radiant grid being sandwiched between two layers of drywall on the ceilings. During that era they worried the most about thermal mass and preventing overheats - so they wrapped the ceiling wires up like mummies.

The new 'radiant crystal' technology addresses that by being a simple standalone unit, they are as easy to hang as a picture frame. They only reach around 175 degrees, and all the electricity is radiated out at very specific frequencies to warm the people and objects in the room, but not the air.

I'm going to keep my radiant heat.

I'm going to keep my radiant heat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by imautoparts

The losses in my installation are due to the entire radiant grid being sandwiched between two layers of drywall on the ceilings. During that era they worried the most about thermal mass and preventing overheats - so they wrapped the ceiling wires up like mummies.

The new 'radiant crystal' technology addresses that by being a simple standalone unit, they are as easy to hang as a picture frame. They only reach around 175 degrees, and all the electricity is radiated out at very specific frequencies to warm the people and objects in the room, but not the air.

Radiant ceiling heat is a very comfortable heat. Also fairly inefficient, due to the high radiant mass required to heat the room/people/objects.

Is that 240 a month to heat the entire house to comfort level, or just selective rooms.

You may want to find out if your local POCO is contemplating going to time of use rates.

I'm going to keep my radiant heat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beenthere

Is that 240 a month to heat the entire house to comfort level, or just selective rooms.

.

The time of use thing is worth checking on.

As far as the 240 a month, that is with full-time AC in the summer when hot and heat in the winter, plus an air compressor, a freezer, a refrigerator, a double oven, an electric grill on the porch and two gigantic electric water heaters (one of which is original to the house).

In 1968 the house was a 'reddy kilowatt' show home, it is quite well insulated but I'[m sure the windows could use updating - although it is not extremely drafty. The original storms (vinyl/aluminum) are still on the home and they are in good shape.

I'm going to take the $12,000 budget for putting in gas heat and updating my double oven, my electric range and perhaps both water heaters with modern units.

I'm also thinking of installing new windows on the 'front' (the North side) of the house - I imagine that will have a pretty solid impact on my heat bills.